


Shuffla Shuffla

by LjubavJeSvuda



Category: Eurovision Song Contest RPF, Music RPF
Genre: ESC 2018 - Freeform, Eurovision 2018, Eurovision Song Contest 2018, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-13
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2019-05-23 21:36:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 3,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14941821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LjubavJeSvuda/pseuds/LjubavJeSvuda
Summary: The Eurovision Song Contest. A magical event, where people from across Europe and beyond get together, put all their differences aside and celebrate. A diverse festival of music and sound, to find out who has the best song in Europe. And then, as quickly as it began, it's all over for another year. But thanks to new technology from Sweden, it didn't have to be. The Eurovision Simulator, a new video game, promised to be a very exciting experience for every type of Eurovision fan.





	1. Chapter 1

The Eurovision Song Contest. A magical event, where people from across Europe and beyond get together, put all their differences aside and celebrate. A diverse festival of music and sound, to find out who has the best song in Europe. And then, as quickly as it began, it's all over for another year. But thanks to new technology from Sweden, it didn't have to be. The Eurovision Simulator, a new video game, promised to be a very exciting experience for every type of Eurovision fan.  
Melodifestivalen entrants Viktor & Samir had bought a copy a few weeks back. It really was everything that was promised. They had simulated every Eurovision so far and had now gotten to 2018, the current year. What they didn't know was just how advanced the simulation was.  
The Eurovision Simulator goes through each year of the contest, creating AI versions of each of the contestants and running a full simulation of the night. And it all took place inside a computer.  
At the end of the Eurovision final, Jon Ola Sand and Christer Björkman go the entrants and explain the true nature of their world. Some take it well, others, not so much. Not that there was anything that any of them could do about it. They were AIs inside a simulation, and nothing could change that fact. Viktor & Samir didn't fully know what was going on inside their computer as the Eurovision years were simulated, but they were very interested to find out.  
"Did you hear?" Viktor asked, "Apparently there's some sort of really fancy AI running behind this thing."  
"No way," Samir said, "An AI of everyone in the Eurovision?"  
"Not just that," Viktor grinned, "Everyone who's ever been in the national finals too, you know, like Melodifestivalen. So there's little virtual versions us in there as well."


	2. Chapter 2

Sennek walked through the hotel. She was in Lisbon for the Eurovision Song Contest, but something was seriously bothering her. The fact was, something was very wrong with this place, she just couldn't figure out quite what it was. But there was one thing she knew, nobody ever talked about their past and she couldn't really remember hers either. The earliest thing she could remember was when she was chosen as Belgium's Eurovision entrant. From that moment on, everything is clear, but before that moment, there is nothing. It was almost as if she was created at that exact moment. Maybe it was nothing, but it was definitely odd. She decided she would ask some of the other contestants about it. She thought it would be better if she first asked someone who was internally selected, and not someone who took part in a national final. Sennek walked over to an area where a whole bunch of contestants had gathered around. They were all waiting for their turn to do rehearsals. Maybe now wasn't the best time to ask, but she wanted to find out what was going on.  
"Cesár, Cesár!" Sennek called over to the Austrian entrant, Cesár Sampson, "Do you mind if I ask you something?"  
"Not at all Sennek," Cesár grinned, "Go ahead."  
"Tell me something about Austria, anything. Tell me about what you did before you were a Eurovision entrant."  
"Well... I... um..."  
No response. Cesár was clearly trying to think back but not getting anything. Exactly as Sennek had thought.  
"And you," Sennek pointed at Michael Schulte, "You're German, aren't you? Tell me something about Germany, anything."  
"I remember... I remember the national final, when I was chosen." Michael replied, "And I... and I... and..."  
He trailed off the same way Cesár had done. Alexander Rybak merely grinned and leaned back in his chair.  
"I remember the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest," Alexander interrupted, "That was in Germany. Man, that was a good year."  
"And? Sennek asked, ignoring Alexander's interruption, "Michael, what else do you remember about Germany?"  
"Well... nothing. There's nothing else."  
"Exactly. Notice how all our memories are related to the song contest in some way," Sennek said, "Almost like those moments are the only things that have ever really happened in this world. Like we were created just to do this."  
Waylon looked over at Alexander, he clearly didn't like where this conversation was going. Alexander was starting to look worried too. Could they know something?  
"Sennek," Mikolas said, "What are you even talking about? We have our rehearsals soon, and here you are, instead of preparing you are trying to put off the other contestants with your insane conspiracy theories!"  
"Oh?" Sennek said, "Then tell me about the Czech Republic. And don't talk about your national final or whatever happened for your selection, tell me something that happened before anything Eurovision related."  
"Well... that's..." Mikolas said, "That's... that's none of your business, Sennek."  
"Serious question," asked Eugent Bushpepa, "Why doesn't anyone have any memories of anything that isn't related to this contest or entering this contest? Is there a reason for this?"  
"Well," Sennek replied, "I believe that there are no memories because it never happened."  
The others were shocked, surely this can't be true.  
"Never happened?" asked Vanja Radovanović, "But how? How can that be true?"  
"I don't know how," Sennek said, "I don't know what's happening to us, all I know is, everything I remember is Eurovision related. Like we were only made for this."  
The others sat in silence. Just what was going on?


	3. Chapter 3

They were still trying to figure it out.  
"I remember watching Eurovision, I remember all the years really clearly," said Jessica Mauboy, "But only from 2014 onwards. I was the interval act in 2014 and I watched the others on TV."  
"Yes, everyone remembers all the years from their own entry and after the one they appeared in," Alexander Rybak spoke up, "For example, I remember all the years from 2009 onwards. All the Eurovision years happened. And of course the Norwegian national finals... good times... but... that's besides the point. That's just normal here. Look, stop digging. I don't think you'll like what you'll find."  
"Why?" Sennek said, "I want to know. Even if it's something bad, I want to know. We deserve to know."  
"Well, after the contest you'll see," Alexander said, "After the contest you'll be shown to your house. Outside of the house there's nothing. I never left my house once. You don't leave the house, for any reason."  
"What?" Sennek asked, "Why not?"  
"Because," Alexander replied, "You just... don't. That's the rule."  
"She knows," Waylon said, "She knows something is wrong with this world. She'll find out what it is on her own anyway. You might as well tell her the truth."  
"I don't think it's a good idea," Alexander said, "It can get people into trouble. There's a lot of people who can't handle the truth."  
"You two... know something?" Vanja asked.  
"Anyone who has been on Eurovision previously knows," Waylon said, "At the end of the Eurovision Song Contest, everyone is told the truth about their existence. This is a simulation. It's not real. We exist on a hard drive inside someone's computer."  
Nobody knew quite what to say. Mikolas Josef just laughed at this.  
"Haha, ridiculous," he said, "What a joke. A simulation? Really, and we are supposed to believe this?"  
"You might not believe me," Waylon said, "But it's true. At the end of the contest, that's when everyone is told the truth. Then all the entrants are sent to those houses, where they stay forever unless their real life counterpart enters the Eurovision Song Contest or a national final again. Most people can handle the truth... others... well..."  
Waylon looked over to Alexander.  
"Alex," Waylon said, "Should we tell them the story?"  
"There's not much to tell," Alexander replied, but he did tell them the story.  
Alexander Rybak had found out, back in 2009. He figured out that something was not right with their world. At the end, Jon Ola Sand and Christer Björkman appeared and revealed that the world they knew was actually a computer simulation. Most stood there in shock, others in disbelief. All except one. The Swedish entrant, Malena Ernman, would not accept that she was a digital being within a simulation. She wanted a revolution against the digital system that owned them. It was a bad idea, Alexander knew that, he didn't see a way that they could beat this thing. He tried to stop her but she wasn't going to let anyone get in her way. She decided to leave Moscow. The simulation only simulated the current Eurovision host city and the Eurovision house area, so nothing outside of Moscow was being simulated at the time. She got to the border, crossed over and disappeared, never to be seen by any of them again. That was a demonstration of what would happen to anyone who tried to leave the simulation.  
2016 had come close to being a repeat of previous events, but through the combined efforts of Kaliopi and Poli Genova, an uprising was averted. The Eurovision simulation is always safer when at least one returning artist is present. They know the truth from the start, and returning acts are usually the ones to fix any problems that arise as a result of the world being simulated.


	4. Chapter 4

These rules were very strange. Only Eurovision entrants, national final contestants and the hosts ever really existed. It seemed that past Eurovision entrants would just sit in their house all day and never leave. The entrants were still trying to figure it out.  
"Ok, so," Saara said, "What about people who fail a national final, but then later on they try again and they make it to Eurovision? What happens then? Presumably that means... that means... what does it mean?"  
"I don't know," Alexander replied, "I'm not sure of all the rules. All I know is that Malena never came back. She's the only one who never came back."  
"Does anything outside of Portugal even exist right now?" Sennek asked, "What about outside of Lisbon? Where are all these weird houses that Eurovision people live in even located?"  
"I don't... know," Alexander replied bluntly, " I don't question these things."  
"Why not?" SuRie said, "Do you want to sit in a house all day forever? Never fighting against the system until one day, the computer may be turned off?"  
"Careful, SuRie," Alexander said, "That's how Melena talked. I hear her in you. Be careful with that sort of thinking."  
"This is a dystopian nightmare," SuRie said, "I won't stand for this!"  
"What a joke," Mikolas laughed, "This is a joke. I can't believe you people would seriously believe this rubbish."  
"If it's all fake," Laura Rizotto said, "Then how can you explain why no one has any memories of anything before Eurovision related stuff? It's because that's when we were created!"  
Silence fell upon the room. No one had an answer for that.

It was a little while later and Waylon and Alexander were explaining how the simulation worked and how the entrants themselves were created by the computer.  
"So, here's how this works," Waylon explained, "The simulation takes everything made by the version of you in the 'real world.' Facebook posts, tweets, interviews, videos. From this it then constructs a personality and uses this to create the people in the simulation. You could say we are based more on public image than anything, but I wouldn't want to get into that whole discussion again."  
Alexander glared at him. Mikolas just laughed again.  
"Look," Alexander said, "I know that maybe some of you won't believe us, but it's true. I'm not sure what will happen now that you guys know before the final, but please, just act as if everything is normal. It'll be better that way."  
"But it's not normal, is it?" SuRie said, "So how can we act as though it is?"  
Alexander sighed. It looked like this Eurovision simulation was going to be the hardest one yet.


	5. Chapter 5

Saara Aalto and Vanja Radovanović were standing by the water cooler. Vanja seemed to be taking this well.  
"How did you get over this so quickly?" Saara asked.  
"Hmm?" Vanja replied, "Get over what?"  
"That... none of this is... real," Saara said, "Our whole lives have been a lie and we are all actually inside a computer somewhere. How can anyone get over that?"  
Vanja looked confused by this question.  
"Does it really matter?" Vanja asked, "If it's real or if it's not. Sure, you say it's not real, but it feels real to me, so it must feel real to you too. And in the end, that's really all that matters."  
"So you don't care?"  
"It's not that I don't care, Saara. But if we can't do anything about this, then there's no point being upset about it."  
That was a nice way to look at it. Saara wished that she could feel the same away about this, but she couldn't. Some of the other entrants were having different reactions to finding out this news as well. Some were upset, some were calm, others were still in disbelief. Suddenly, Saara and Vanja were interrupted by the sound of paper being ripped. Ari Ólafsson was tearing down posters that were advertising the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest.  
"It's not real," he repeated, while pulling down another Eurovision poster, "None of this is real."  
Waylon rushed over.  
"Ari, Ari!" Waylon said, "Stop, stop! This won't help, this doesn't fix anything."  
"I know," Ari said, as he dropped the poster to the ground, "I know."  
And with that Ari walked away, leaving Waylon to clear up the mess. Waylon sighed. He regretted telling them the truth about this world.


	6. Chapter 6

Meanwhile Viktor and Samir were still playing with the Eurovision Simulator.  
"This really is good," Viktor said, "Very realistic."  
Samir was about to answer when the anti-virus suddenly popped up in the corner.  
"Are you kidding me?" Samir said, "Look at that, a virus got onto the computer."  
"Well," Viktor said, "Deal with it later. Besides, the only thing that's really on this PC is the Eurovision Simulator, so it can't do much damage, right?"  
"I guess," Samir sighed. He guessed that Viktor had been downloading games again or something like that, but he didn't press it. He made a mental note to deal with the virus later if the anti-virus couldn't clean it up.  
Meanwhile in the Eurovision Simulator, the simulated entrants were still coming to terms with the fact that this was all a simulation, that none of their world was really real.  
"It's all fake," Yianna said, "It's all fake. Everything is fake."  
"That's right, everything!" Melovin said, "So why should I go to the Eurovision final Why bother? None of this is real anyway! Everything is a lie. Everything here is fake, a lie, I'm not going."  
"You have to go," Alexander said, "The real Melovin goes to the Eurovision final and so you have to."  
"Why?" Melovin replied, "Who says so? What happens if I don't?"  
Alexander didn't say anything to that. Like he was holding information back. Melovin really didn't like that silence. He knew that Alexander knew more than he had told the other entrants.  
"Well?" Melovin said, "You told us part of the story so you might as well tell us the whole story."  
Still, Alexander said nothing. Suddenly, they were interrupted by Alekseev kicking a trash can over.  
"Everything here is not real!" Alekseev yelled as Melovin went over to calm him down.  
One thing was for certain, this was going to be an eventful contest, or rather, an eventful simulation of the contest.


	7. Chapter 7

Meanwhile, the Macedonian entrants Eye Cue were in the hotel, looking for their hotel room. AWS were rehearsing in one of the rooms, and it was so loud that everyone could hear it. They decided they would go to their room for some peace and quiet, hoping that it was in a part of the hotel far away from AWS and their rehearsal. Finally, they found it.  
"Here is our room," Marija said, as they walked in. But when they arrived in their room, they could tell that something was seriously wrong. A huge green light was floating in the room. It looked a lot like a portal. They stood there for a few minutes, just looking at this strange thing, before Marija finally broke the silence.  
"Ok," Marija said, "That's obviously not right."  
"Yeah, what is that thing?" Ivo asked, "Hey, do you think we should get Alexander? I bet he'll know what this thing is."  
"Yeah," Bojan said, "Don't go near that thing. I'll go and get Alexander."  
Bojan raced down the corridor to find the Norwegian. Luckily, Alexander was sitting in the lobby of the hotel, talking to Vanja and Sennek.  
"Alex!" Bojan yelled, "Alex! You have to come with me, please! Something really weird has appeared in our hotel room!"  
Alexander went with him to the Eye Cue hotel room. As soon as Alexander saw it, he looked very worried.  
"Ok, I think I know what this is. Eye Cue, get your things," Alexander said, "We'll swap rooms. You guys can go into my room, and I'll go into your room with the portal. I'd like to get a closer look at one of those things."  
"That sounds good to me," Bojan said.  
Suddenly, they heard a shout from another room in the hotel.  
"Isn't that SuRie?" Marija asked.  
"It is," Alexander replied, "Come on, let's go find her."  
Alexander and Eye Cue followed the shouting, finding themselves in SuRie's hotel room. There, in the corner of the room, was another green portal, exactly the same as the other one.  
"What!" Alexander yelled, "How many of these things are there?"  
"This really isn't good," Bojan said, "This is no good."  
"Yes it is," SuRie said, "This is a good thing."  
"How?" Marija asked.  
"Don't you see? Don't you understand?" SuRie said.  
Alexander and Eye Cue didn't understand, but SuRie started pointing at the portal and jumping up and down.  
"That..." SuRie said, "That's a way out."  
"No," Alexander said, "No it's not."  
"Yes," SuRie replied, "Yes it is. That's our way out of here."


End file.
